He's a Genius
by blownwish
Summary: Al isn't just skilled in bed, he's a genius. Ed finds out for himself. (Sequel to "Essential." Elricest, yaoi)


Mustang thought he was so clever. Most idiots did. Wouldn't it just make more sense to tell Ed he was just trying to get him out of his system?

Al seemed to think so. "He plays games so much he's playing them with himself. I could tell the man was obsessed with you, and resented it." He gulped down the rest of his lager. "It was an experience, Brother. That's all it was."

Ed watched fat snowflakes drift. He hated the cold but Bruges was a good, far-way middle ground. "He said you had more skill."

"Hehe... He did seem impressed."

"That's the thing." Ed stepped away from the window. Toward the bed. "Skilled? You've been awfully busy, haven't you, Al? What're you doing? Sleeping around and calling it research or something? You'll get diseases." He put his hands on his hips. "And don't tell me about your stupid addendum to Equivalent Exchange. 'Adding something of yourself' shouldn't be a pickup line, Al."

He was being harsh but he knew he was right. Al was probably giving the phrase "making up for lost time" a whole new meaning. When Mustang described his little brother that way with that damn smirk Ed wanted to scream. Yes, it bothered him because he was the older brother and he should've been the one who was better in bed. And maybe he wanted to blow Mustang away. (Though he'd never admit it!) But his little brother wasn't supposed to be "skilled," like some... some... hooker!

"I'm sorry." He wasn't sorry at all. He was smiling. Typical Al! He was trying to charm his way out of this one. "Sex is fascinating and I enjoy learning about it. You can't blame me, right?" No, not after he'd been denied physical sensation for so long. Of course he couldn't. But he was going to get syphilis if he wasn't careful.

"Look..." He took his hand and squeezed. "I'm not mad. I'm worried. Can you blame me? You're all I've got, Al. I don't want you to throw everything away just because it feels good to be Mr Sex Machine, okay?"

Al pulled his hand back. "Sex Machine. Huh?" He looked up at Ed. "That was low."

"Yeah, but isn't that what you're acting like? Face it, Al: Mustang was talking about you like you're a sex toy. Is that what you wanna be?" He rarely got a chance to glare down his way-too-tall baby brother, so he couldn't resist the temptation. He got right down in his face, pushed a finger in his chest and seethed. "I don't ever want to hear anyone - especially that son of a bitch! - ever, ever talk about you like that again! You got that?"

Al dropped the charming smile and glared right back. "All I hear is my jealous brother warning me off his boyfriend."

Boyfriend? _Boyfriend_? Oh, that did it. Mustang was a one time deal. The bastard made that more than clear and Ed had no problem walking away. He last thing he needed was the mess Mustang made in his head playing out in his life. He'd had enough growing up under his thumb. Entering puberty jerking off as he imagined Mustang spanking him. Fucking him. Owning him. No, what happened that night in Central stayed there. All that stupid boyhood lust would stay locked inide a box and forgotten.

Ed pushed him. "Oh, I'm going to kick your ass for that."

"I'm so scared." Al kicked his feet out from under him. Laughed as he watched him fall forward. Got up just before he hit the bed. Put his knee on his back and pulled his ponytail. Hard. "I'm practically shaking."

"Get off me, Al."

"Admit you're jealous and I will!"

"Promise you'll stop being a fucking sex toy hooker and I won't cut your balls off!" Ed pressed his head against the mattress and counted to ten. Nothing happened. Al was still fucking up his back. Everything Mustang said and did was still fucking with his head. And fighting wasn't fixing this shit. "Okay..."

"You admit you're jealous?" He needed to quit pulling his hair. It seriously hurt.

"Let's just say it's possible." Only in another place and time. Not now. Not ever again.

"Okay..." Al let up. Ed grinned. Big mistake.

He shot up, grabbed Al's shirt and whirled around. Dropped him on the mattress. Pinned him with his automail knee. Grabbed his shoulders and grinned. "Now you promise." He shook his shoulders when Al started to object. "No - it's Equivalent Exchange. Do it, Al."

"I don't believe in that anymore."

"No: I'm the one who doesn't believe in it. You gonna tell me you can't live up to your principles, baby brother? Come on!"

"You forgot the addendum." His voice was soft. Strangely soft. "Add something to it."

"What're you talking about?"

"I wanted to sleep with him because you were going to do it, too." He stared into his eyes. "I didn't realize, until I actually did sleep with him, that I agreed because it was like being with you."

Ed blinked back.

"I wanted you to know what I did and imagine me that way. It's wrong, but at least it's the truth." He closed his eyes. He let out a long, slow breath. "That's the addendum. I won't sleep around. That's the Exchange. Happy, now?"

Ed didn't know what to say. What to do. What to think. Sure he was relieved, but... but... His baby brother, his only family... wanted him? Like that? He tried to smile but the shock was too much.

"You don't have to say anything. I know it's perverted." Then he laughed, like he was telling a joke. "But it's not the worst thing I've ever done."

He didn't like it when Al talked about himself like that. He was always a good kid. Ed was the one who always got them in trouble. "I shouldn't have agreed to this thing. Sleeping with that idiot. You shouldn't even sleep around..."

"Stop." Al trapped his hands, keeping them on his shoulders when Ed tried to pull away. "We learned something. You want him and I want you. And you love me anyway."

Ed frowned. "You can't think of me like this, Al."

"Too late." He tried to raise himself up. Ed didn't want to know what he was planning to do when he pouted like that.

"I'm not about to make it worse." He tried to get up. Al locked his legs around his hips. Grabbed his shoulders. Swung his body weight. Shit! They were both on the bed.

"Do you think I'm attractive?"

"What kinda stupid question is that?" He pushed as Al pulled. Tried to wiggle away as Al's crotch bumped against his. Once. Twice. Three times.

"Roy used the word, 'strapping.' Am I strapping?" God, he really was skilled. He was using a twist that hit Ed right under the balls before he thrust up, just enough. It was insidious.

He nodded. "You've got a mirror. You know! You're so good looking it makes me sick. Happy?" Ed had to stop trying to move his ass away because it wasn't helping. He had to think of something else.

Al must've known because the tempo changed. He went faster. Oh, fuck! It felt amazing! Ed bit his lip and closed his eyes. Breathed in slowly and counted as he exhaled. It helped a little.

"You're fighting it. But you can't win." Al's fingers began rubbing his shoulders, and like magic the tension began to melt. But Ed kept breathing. Kept focusing. Kept resisting.

Then he did it. He reached down and cupped him through his pants. Right there. It was a simple touch: his index finger pressing against his cock, back and forth, up and down. Ed whimpered as blood rushed south and his head began to spin. "What the fuck did you just do?"

Al laughed. "You like that? I learned it in a book."

"From a book?" What the hell kind of book?

"Yep." He went lower and cupped his balls. Rubbed them, tugged them, pushed them up and did it all over again. Ed couldn't keep his arms up anymore. Couldn't sit up. Couldn't breath. All he could do was feel a coil wind up tight, pressing him to thrust forward. Then he heard him whisper: "Roy was my first. But it should've been you."

Oh...

"I'm sorry I said-" A finger stopped him.

"I'm sorry I let you think it." He replaced the finger with his lips. It was a fast peck. Then a slow press. Then a slower one. Ed wondered if the world would stop spinning as their tongues touched. If the sun would explode. If life as they knew it would cease to exist because he was kissing his baby brother.

Of course it didn't. It should have. But it didn't.

"Just this once, okay? Don't tell anyone." The words came in a rush as he opened his mouth and let Al in.

Alphonse's touch was precise, like his alchemy, finding Edward beneath his clothes and redefining his body with perfect, bold strokes. He was naked in seconds. He was gasping in moments. Fisting sheets as Alphonse painted feathery kisses over his stomach, his hip bone, his -

"Oh, fuck..."

His mouth was wet and hot and, oh... Edward whimpered and whined and bucked and shivered as Alphonse sucked him. Shook his head from side to side because he kept stopping and teasing him with little licks. Grabbed his head and forced him back down. "Please, please, please..."

His baby brother. His only brother. The one person he loved more than anyone. Anything. He'd die a thousand times, gladly. And he was letting him do this. Wanting him to do this. Yeah, wanting. It was true.

Alphonse stopped. He brought them face to face. He pressed their bodies together. Their faces together. Their souls together. Edward's heart pounded as Alphonse smiled. "You liked that?"

Edward wrapped his arms around him tight. "You mean that's it?" He wrapped his legs around him tighter.

"Shut up." Alphonse kissed him. His body pressed Edward into the mattress. His hands moved over his skin, like he was drawing on Edward, rewriting him like a formula, adding new notations. His hips ground against him with punctuated force. And when he looked into his brother's eyes, Edward recognized the disciplined will staring back at him. "Hold your breath." He changed his angle. He put his fingers in a new configuration. He watched as a searing heat drove Edward into oblivion.

It took a long time to recover. They lay together, staring at each other, sweat drying and breathing returning to something like normal.

"Wow." They both said it at the same time. Then laughed.

"Mustang is an idiot." Ed backhanded a pillow with a laugh. "That wasn't just skill. That was genius."

"So I don't have sex like a machine?" Al touched his cheek, tracing small circles on his skin.

"No, Al. Like an Alchemist."

"I knew you'd get it."

Ed sighed. "Yeah. I get it." He stared at the ceiling as he started tracing his jaw. "But it was just one time. We will put it down to experience, but we can't do that again. "

Al snorted. "Oh, really?" His finger slipped across his lips and down his chin, over his throat then paused right over his nipple. Al smiled as Ed trembled. "Seems like we can do it whenever I want to."

Then his finger came down. Gently. And powerfully. Edward gasped as Alphonse leaned over him, smiling. "Genius, remember?"

The snow drift lasted for days, preventing all travel throughout the region. Ed and Al stayed in their room long after the storm before parting ways.


End file.
